On the Couch with Halcyon Macleod

Halcyon Macleod oncWho is Halcyon Macleod? 
I’m a theatre-maker, writer and Founding Member / Co-Artistic Director of My Darling Patricia.

What would you do differently to what you do now?   
I would have had more summer holidays instead of working right through them. Not wasted my twenties in birkenstocks and blundstones because we all end up in comfortable shoes eventually.

Who inspires you and why?
The artists I work with inspire me, and its why I love collaborating – you can surround yourself with artists you find inspiring and its not about you anymore but about what you can do collectively.

What would you do to make a difference in the world?
I heard someone say earlier this year that as artists we can’t really contribute to saving the world, but we can contribute to making the world worth saving.

Favourite holiday destination and why?
Piccaninny Point in Tasmania because its completely uncomplicated, you hardly see anyone except the people you went there with, both the morning and afternoon light is amazing, and it feels ancient, haunted and somehow still welcoming.

When friends come to town, what attraction would you take then to, and why?
Hobart where I live, is such a great town to visit – for Australians and International guests. MONA and Mt Wellington are the two essentials, but there are dozens of others – Melville St Markets, Fish n; Chips at Denally, Garagiste, Tasmanian Whiskey Tours, Mt Field National Park and on and on and on.

What are you currently reading?
The Night Guest by Fiona Macfarlane and Girl With a Monkey by Thea Astley.

What are you currently listening to?
A back log of Poetica Podcasts and Grimes.

Happiness is?
Getting to sleep in past 6am. The sound of my 2 year old laughing hysterically.

What does the future hold for you?
An artist’s residency in Barbados mid 2015.

Halcyon Macleod is a writer and theatre-maker. She is Co Artistic Director of performance ensemble My Darling Patricia (MDP). She has a graduate diploma (Animateuring) from the VCA. Halcyon has focused her practice on creating interdisciplinary performance through collaborating and exploring the role of active audiences.

Halcyon has co-created MDP’s work since 2004: Kissing The Mirror, Dear Pat, Politely Savage, Night Garden, Africa, Posts in the Paddock, Mantle and The Piper. She has written the original texts for all of MDP’s performances and co-directed their process of creation.

Halcyon has written texts for installations by Matt Prest and Clare Britton (Hole In The Wall) and Sam Routledge (Please Hold). Between 2010 and 2012 Halcyon collaborated with Arena Theatre as a writer on the development and presentation of House of Dreaming. She is currently writing a radio docu-drama and installation Crawl Me Blood with Willoh S Weiland from Aphids, supported by ABC Radio National and the Literature Board of the Australia Council.

Halcyon received the George Fairfax Memorial Award in 2010 and a Cultural Leadership Grant from the Theatre Board in 2012, the latter enabling her to undertake cultural exchange across Canada in 2013.

The Australian premiere of Halcyon’s extraordinary new physical theatre work, Falling Woman will be presented at Carriageworks from 26 – 29 November as part of Performance Space: Buruwan. For more information, visit: www.performancespace.com.au for details.

Image: Halcyon Macleod